The Truth About Church

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:6-10; 2:1-4, 14-17; 3:12-17; 4:1-4

Introduction

• I present for your consideration another sermon in a series about truth.
• The truth is that a lot has been said in the news lately about the Southern Baptist Convention and their stand on women in the ministry.
• Let me say right up front that Biltmore is not a Southern Baptist Convention church.
• We are Virginia Baptists and members of the Baptist General Association of Va (BGAV) and the Dover Baptist Association.
• They have expelled their largest member church: Saddleback Church in California started by Pastor Rick Warren and his wife Kay.
• Pastor Rick has stepped back in retirement and now Andy Wood and wife Stacie Wood have replaced him as senior pastors.
• They have just modified the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message to explicitly name Pastor along with Elder and Overseer to make no mistake about who it refers to.
• As amended June 14, 2023, by action of the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention:

Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its two scriptural offices are that of pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

• The Scripture that they refer to and base their position on is 1 Timothy 2:9-14:

I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.  I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.  For Adam was formed first, then Eve.  And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

• While no one doubts that Paul wrote these words to young Timothy, they are inconsistent with Paul’s position on women – particularly the woman Priscilla who he frequently praises. Who is a CO-PASTOR with her husband Aquila – just like Saddleback church.
• He mentions them in 1 Corinthians 16:19:

The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.

• He also mentions them again in 2 Timothy 4:19:

Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.

• Clearly, by his own admission, Paul has respect for husband/wife ministry teams.
• But forget about Paul for a minute and turn your attention to Jesus, the reason for church.
• Jesus repeatedly showed His respect and support of women.
• Since the SBC likes to so glibly, hold up Paul’s first letter to Timothy, I’m going to use the second one as a better model for Paul’s vision of TRUE church doctrine.
• I have five things that Paul gives us in 2 Timothy as the TRUTH about church:

1. Minister the Gospel boldly in the Spirit.
2. Develop people qualified to teach.
3. Warn people about using words carefully.
4. Use Scripture as the basis for everything.
5. Always preach the Word

1. Minister the Gospel boldly in the Spirit

• “Fan into flame the gift of God” Paul says.
• We are the body of Christ – we are the church – this building is NOT the church.
• Jesus didn’t establish any church buildings or plant any churches.
• Jesus didn’t establish denominations or church doctrine or constitution and by-laws.
• Jesus brought people together and left them with the Holy Spirit to move forward.
• The disciples established the structure that would become what we now know as church.
• Deacons were created by the disciples to handle the needs of the congregations.
• Groups of believers started meeting together in synagogues and people’s houses.
• There were no committees or building funds or conventions.
• Paul wrote a series of letters to churches he helped plant and to young ministers starting out like Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
• These letters have been preserved and studied; canonized into the Bible; and form doctrine based on numerous different translations and perspectives.
• The Roman church grew into the Catholic church now covering about 50% of all Christians or about 1 billion.
• The other half is made up of a combination of Protestant denominations that split from the Catholic church and the Baptists that were always unique from the beginning.
• The Southern Baptist Convention was never meant to be a denomination.
• By enforcing the women in ministry clause, they are violating their own statement.
• From section VI of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message titled “The Church” they say:

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord.

• The truth is that the church should in no way exclude people or block anyone’s path to Jesus Christ. Let the Holy Spirit guide the church.  SBC needs to get out of the way.

2. Develop people qualified to teach.

• This is the root of what the SBC is purportedly addressing: qualified teachers.
• To make a generalized statement denigrating women as unqualified is unacceptable.
• Don’t tell me women aren’t qualified to teach. Join us one Wednesday night Bible study and you’ll see just how qualified ton teach women can be.
• If we turn to the book of Acts chapter 18:24-26 we hear more about Priscilla’s teaching:

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.  He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.  He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him

to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

• Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2:

The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

• Perhaps if we focus on the INTENT of Paul’s teaching instead of subverting it to an anti-women position, we can properly accomplish the objective of qualified teachers.

3. Warn people about using words carefully.

• People who make up the church need to be careful with their words.
• Sometimes, even well-meaning people have razor-sharp tongues that can do damage.
• Paul says: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
• Paul warns about quarreling about words. No doubt the WORDS of the SBC and their insistence of expelling their largest church over a few useless words meet this test.
• Let this sermon be a warning to those who would use words to damage the church.

4. Use Scripture as the basis for everything

• A church of Jesus Christ is a church of the Scripture. Jesus used Scripture so must we.
• Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
• Those who teach others must be qualified to teach as mentioned previously, but the content must be Biblically grounded.
• We should be teaching Scripture in every aspect of our church life.

5. Always preach the Word

• In a Christian church, we must always preach the Word. As Paul says:

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.  For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.